Three People Sent to Prison in China Over iPad 2 Leaks

[japasneezemonk]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/534.32 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

The rumor and tech sites that posted the leaked info should all join togheter and help these people out. Seriously severe punishment for some goofy leaks.

 

[MorphingDragon]

USA still has the death sentence. I'd be very careful with comparisons.

The Death Sentence is merciful relief compared to Chinese Prisons.

 

[b0blndsy]

Honestly, if Apple were really a great company, they'd build their hardware in countries that respect human rights. Yes, it would cost more. Think different.

I differ here, all most all the Apple products are being manufactured in China and this is the first instance of product leakage. Also these things can happen any part of this globe. Bribery and corruption is in existence in all countries from thousand of years

 

[kiljoy616]

USA still has the death sentence. I'd be very careful with comparisons.

So does China your point?

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The rumor and tech sites that posted the leaked info should all join togheter and help these people out. Seriously severe punishment for some goofy leaks.

Blame Apple for that kind of paranoia. So it makes sense that Chinese Government is going to be way more severe if it could prejudiced the lucrative business Apple brings in.

Not blaming Apple completely but it is the most paranoid company I can think off when it comes to even small leaks. Like if we know before hand we would not buy the product.

 

[tetravus]

Wow, that's sad. It's a freaking Ipad an electronic device for crying out loud. I would hate to know what happens to you for a really serious crime.

That's really simple. You will be sentenced to death by firing squad; and you have to pay for the cost of the bullet. The reason the jails are full in the US is because they're too lenient on criminals.

In case you haven't noticed; stealing trade secrets is a serious crime in the US too.

 

[VenusianSky]

USA still has the death sentence. I'd be very careful with comparisons.

Do you understand what the "United States of America" is? Some states of the US have the death sentence for pretty much only first degree murder.

 

[SoGood]

How do you reconcile the fact that pirate DVDs and BDs are sold with impunity on the streets and in the malls of China - yet a few people go to prison for selling minor Apple secrets?

It doesn't seem "fair and balanced" - why is sharing Apple's IP a crime worth prison, yet "sharing" a director's cut of the Avator BD is ignored?

Inquiring minds want to know....

Nothing to do with AAPL IP. This is white collar crime, involving bribery (RMB200,000/US$31,000 being reported in Western press). As for DVD pirating. Well, PirateBay.org is alive and well supported in the Western Hemisphere, so why should others worry. Not much difference there.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/534.32 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

The rumor and tech sites that posted the leaked info should all join togheter and help these people out. Seriously severe punishment for some goofy leaks.

Don't be stupid! They leaked not for rumour sites, but was paid by a accessories/equipment company staff to attain significant commercial advantage.

 

[marksman]

This is clearly not something a person should sit in prison for.. so what, they leaked pictures of a tablet computer, I think firing them would probably be harsh enough, maybe even a fine but not prison!

It is a crime and such acts could potentially cost many people their jobs.

It is amazing how people think this is not something that should be dealt with...

It is amazing how many people here think stealing information from your employer that is proprietary and selling it is no big deal.

It's not a criminal offense in the United States. You would not go to jail here for doing this. You might get fired, you might be completely unpalatable to other employers, you might be sued, your career might be finished. But you would not go to jail for divulging trade secrets.

Orly? Reality would tend to disagree.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/23/news/newsmakers/coke/

"Two former Coca-Cola employees were sentenced Wednesday to serve federal prison terms for conspiring to steal and sell trade secrets to rival Pepsi."

Stealing is stealing. If you take something of someone's without their permission and then sell it or try to sell it, you are stealing.

 

[Trog7g]

Do you not believe his crime was serious enough to be executed? Is there rehabilitating someone like this?

McVeigh, from what I know as a former peace officer, felt no remorse and felt he could have done more. He did acknowledge he may have picked another target if he had known about the children but felt it was a necessary price to pay. He knew the price he would pay if he was caught. He also stopped all appeals to stop his execution. So no, I do not think he could have been rehabilitated.

I've seen what people are capable of doing to each other and have seen some pretty gruesome things but to pick through the remains of 160 people from a single act by essentially a single person... Yes, I think what he got was more than deserved.

 

[rovex]

McVeigh looks a bit like Eminem

 

[ActionableMango]

Ever heard of whole foods? They are decidedly far more expensive than your typical grocery store, yet there is a market for them and they seem to be doing rather well. Why?

Because rich people like snobby stores and they don't have to rub elbows with us "normal folk".

That said, China has less people in prison per capita than the US, less violent crime per capita and less theft per capita. So something works.

Where did you get these numbers? Statistics provided by the Chinese government for public consumption show whatever they want to show. They have no relation to reality whatsoever. Their government is very keen on proving that their system results in social harmony and is superior to all other systems.

 

[JasperJanssen]

Agree completely. I too have brought this up in the past and usually get flamed for it. Add an option on the BTO page for this "other" version and I'll gladly pay $50 more or whatever the amount is (within reason of course).

$50? Are you *serious*?!

You should be in thinking in terms of *multiplying* the cost, not adding tiny fractions to it. Particularly given that virtually nobody will buy it because of the cost, think $1000-$1500 rather than $550. You might, though, get 64G+Wifi versions only, because when you start building several versions it's even more ridiculous.

This is, of course, with fabbing everything from silicon and screen to assembly being done in the West. If it's *just* final assembly, you might be more in line with $100-200 extra. But then, 80% of the bad things are still happening in China, so really, what's the point.

Where did you get these numbers? Statistics provided by the Chinese government for public consumption show whatever they want to show. They have no relation to reality whatsoever. Their government is very keen on proving that their system results in social harmony and is superior to all other systems.

Try looking up a ranking for these figures. The USA is so far ahead of *everybody*, including all the reputable countries, that it would be odd if the Chinese were an exception.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate

 

[Tipsy]

Per capita should be measured by comparable cities not nationally. For anything meaningful, anyway.

Unless you're trying to assess what percentage of a whole nation's population is imprisoned, which I think is quite meaningful. Setting China aside - I don't trust their stats - the US would seem to have a far, far higher rate of imprisonment than any major developed nation - about 5x higher than that in the UK, for example. (and before anyone goes 'it's wikipedia!!1', its sourced to King's College London)

You might want to go read the Constitution and see what it says about the ability of "the national government" to "ban" things "nation wide."

The peculiarities of your system of governance are no excuse for your governments, at whatever level, continuing to kill people.

Do you not believe his crime was serious enough to be executed? Is there rehabilitating someone like this?

There have been people imprisoned for life terms who have later been released because of new evidence, people who may in different circumstances may have been given the death penalty on the same burden of proof. I believe McVeigh admitted his guilt, but others don't (or might expecting a reduced sentence) and are still killed by the US or state governments. It seems very unlikely they're all guilty.

Well deserved prison term in a country where large bribes can land the death sentence.

Well deserved? Assuming you read the stories on this site and don't just troll the forums, you, like me, are helping to fuel the demand for these leaks by bringing traffic to the websites that publicise this information and paid the people who got it. What a shame there's no prison sentence for lack of compassion - and self-awareness.

 

[smali]

So its ok for factory owners in China to ruin the enviroment, ruin people's lives who live near these factories by introducing cancer inducing **** into the water and make the air so toxic you have to wear a filter 24/7?? and they get off scot-free?? Yet release a few pics of a silly toy and you are sent down? What is this madness...

Lord Jobs deserves his cancer.

 

[cmaier]

So its ok for factory owners in China to ruin the enviroment, ruin people's lives who live near these factories by introducing cancer inducing **** into the water and make the air so toxic you have to wear a filter 24/7?? and they get off scot-free?? Yet release a few pics of a silly toy and you are sent down? What is this madness...

Lord Jobs deserves his cancer.

First, that's despicable.

Second, what did Steve Jobs do? You think he controls China's legal system?

 

[Cavepainter]

The US as a country still has the death penalty for federal offenses. Timothy McVeigh was executed under federal jurisdiction.

So?

All poor Timothy McVeigh did to get such a terrible nasty fate is blow up a truck bomb right in front of a full government office building, killing 168 people, injured another 450, totaled a multimillion dollar federal building paid for with tens of thousands of people's hard-earned tax money, and ultimately damaged and altered countless thousands of lives of friends and relatives. That's all he did.

Poor Timothy McVeigh.

 

[yiyopr]

So?

All poor Timothy McVeigh did to get such a terrible nasty fate is blow up a truck bomb right in front of a full government office building, killing 168 people, injured another 450, totaled a multimillion dollar federal building paid for with tens of thousands of people's hard-earned tax money, and ultimately damaged and altered countless thousands of lives of friends and relatives. That's all he did.

Poor Timothy McVeigh.

Why would you have pity for this man. After what you've told me I have absolutely no pity for him!

-----EDIT------

Oh its sarcasm! I get it.

 

[Open Your Eyes]

I don't know if anyone will be reading this, but...

You guys still actually wonder why no Apple information leaks?

 

[Cavepainter]

Why would you have pity for this man. After what you've told me I have absolutely no pity for him!

-----EDIT------

Oh its sarcasm! I get it.

Haha.. more calls for a sarcasm font..... Apple, you listening?

 

[inkswamp]

Yes, while it's banned in some states, others are still happy to execute those who couldn't afford proper legal representation and/or are mentally retarded (although I understand this may be taking a slight turn for the better). The land of the free doesn't apply to all I'm afraid.

Ok does this sound better: Parts of the USA still have death sentencing and the national government is tolerating this instead of banning it nation wide.

The US as a country still has the death penalty for federal offenses. Timothy McVeigh was executed under federal jurisdiction.

None of you are addressing the point I was originally making which is that you cannot generalize about a country as big and diverse as the US. Those of you doing so, especially those of you outside the US and unfamiliar with the way things work here, are revealing some serious ignorance. Yes, there are parts of the US where the death penalty is still put to use but there are plenty of states where its use has been banned.

Again, each state has the ability to dictate its own laws in this regard and most act of their own accord. If you understand that, then you'd see that any effort to paint the entire country with a broad brush on this topic is a meaningless exercise.

A simple Google search would have shown this:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty

And if you research further, you'll find that many of the states that haven't yet banned it, make it a such a difficult option for prosecutors to go after that it's often not even pursued.

 

[henchman]

I have always wished companies would offer two versions. A cheap version to be competetive and a socially conscious green version. Some customers would pay more for a product that was environmentally friendly and socially aware.

Sadly, you would need two versions as some comptitor would just make it in the third world and undersell you.

But Apple has the cachet to pull this off and create some needed jobs and pay in needed areas.

Apple, with all the billions it has, would never think of doing this.
They don't care about working conditions.
Or how their stuff is made.
Apple only ares about the price of it's stock.

First, that's despicable.

Second, what did Steve Jobs do? You think he controls China's legal system?

Steve jobs did nothing.
And will do nothing.
And that's the point.

Because rich people like snobby stores and they don't have to rub elbows with us "normal folk".

Yep.
Whole foods is highly overrated.

 

[vvswarup]

I wonder how much Big Brother Apple had to do with this?
Would not put it past them to have asked for stern punishment to protect their silly little secrets.

It's comments like this that utterly disgust me. What you call "silly little secrets" is worth billions of dollars to Apple.

Oh and your first sentence is nothing but a baseless conspiracy theory.

You really think that a bottom-rung factory worker in the USA would be jailed for leaking product photographs. OK.

It's not just leaking photographs. That will get you fired. These people were allegedly selling secrets about the iPad 2. Evidently, that's illegal.

Wow, this is such ********. This is so far away from a proportionate response that it's not even funny.

While it is yet to be known how much input Apple had in this outcome, if it transpires that they pushed for a prosecution knowing this could be on the cards then I'd lose just about any respect I ever had for them as a company.

Why exactly is that? Put yourself in Apple's shoes. You've spent billions of dollars in R&D on the iPad. You've gone through so much trouble to keep the product a secret in order to avoid showing your hand to competitors. Here is an employee of one of your partners who has been selling confidential information about this product.

This isn't "cool", Apple - no more than knocking down the door of someone's house over a lost telephone.

While it may not feed your conspiracy-theory mongering sentiments, Apple doesn't have any authority to break into somebody's house. The police have that authority. And that someone was trafficking stolen property.

If the younger people (you know, the ones who spend their days at the Apple store updating their Facebook pages) figure out that Apple is really "the man" - 50% drop in stock value at the start.

Apple will fall faster than Mubarak....

What exactly is "the man?" And what control do those younger people have over Apple's stock?

 

[JAT]

Steve jobs did nothing.
And will do nothing.
And that's the point.

SJ has no jurisdiction or power to change Chinese law, just like you. What exactly are you asking? That's just stupid in relation to this story.

 

[Tulpa]

That said, China has less people in prison per capita than the US, less violent crime per capita and less theft per capita. So something works.

What's "working" is probably the per capita execution rate over 100x that of the US and omnipresent police and government surveillance. If you're willing to make that tradeoff maybe you should move there.

I'm not happy with our justice system either, but let's not go full mentally challenged with the moral equivalency.

 

[greenmeanie]

Oh Please they never use the darn thing and should!

USA still has the death sentence. I'd be very careful with comparisons.